How Applications Works

Policies and methods for qualifying renters and reducing tenant risk.


Caretaker Applications replaces high-touch manual processes with software to enforces renter requirements consistently and methodically. This prevents both sides from wasting time while ensuring fair treatment for each renter.

Applications processTraditional flowCaretaker
PrequalifyManualAutomatic
Gather backup documentsManualAutomatic
Verify backup documentsManualBoth
Provide decisionManualAutomatic

Our technology

Prequalification. Rental requirement policies are fixed, objective sets of criteria that must be met in order to gain access to a housing unit, building, or a specific owner's entire portfolio. As a listing loads for a given applicant, its policy is cross-checked against whatever we know about the applicant.

Gathering and verifying documentation. You can specify how applicants prove they meet a specific requirement by choosing your preferred verification documents. Certain verification methods are completely automated and verified instantly while others require manual review with written confirmation from a reference.

Providing the decision.

Understanding the process

As long as a unit has a policy attached to it, the policy will be displayed prominently on the listing at all times (regardless of whether it's available). Add requirements for income, credit history, and rental history:

  • Income: Annual or monthly earnings as a multiple of the rent amount

  • Employment: Whether or not they are employed

  • Credit history: Presence of a credit history, require credit score to be over a minimum number

  • Rental history: Whether or not the applicant has housing court records such as judgements for rent or eviction judgements.

Prequalification

As long as a unit has a policy attached to it, it will be displayed prominently on the listing. As the listing loads for a given applicant, that policy is cross-checked against data from their profile to see if they are qualified

1.png

As the listing loads for a given applicant, that policy is cross-checked against data from their profile to see if they are qualified

When the listing is marked as available, applicants will be required to prove that they meet certain requirements at different milestones. The first step is reviewing the requirements and confirming (without yet proving) that they meet them. A verification isn't required until they're ready to book a viewing. They must prove that they meet all of the requirements in order to submit an application.

StepRequiredSuggested
Ask questionLogged-inNone
Self-tourVerified identityReview and self-certify
ApplyVerified income, credit, backgroundAll listed

Gathering and verifying documentation

Passing all of the requirements has to happen in order to submit an application. Software that's built into each listing page makes sure that all required documents are submitted and have been verified (when possible).

Instant verification. A layer of connections to financial institutions, credit bureaus, and employers enable near-instantaneous verification of screening data.

Manual verification. The application will trigger a manual review if income can't be verified, there are notes on the background check or credit report that need careful review. Caretaker's support specialists are trained in techniques for looking closer at these records and documents and contacting references for verification in order to come to a qualification decision

Providing the decision

Once they have been deemed qualified, their last step is to review the available lease dates and check that their proposed terms would be acceptable.

Next steps

All property owners can review their applicants and make the final decision as long as the reasons for rejecting an applicant complies with fair housing policies.

Property owners make the final decision on accepting or rejecting pre-qualified applicants.

Sign up for updates

Share your email with us and we’ll notify you when we post new content.

Have questions for us?

We’re happy to help you figure out if Caretaker is right for your situation.

Get in touch